Category: Indian news

Who does the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid land belong to? And was the Masjid built over a temple? It’s been one of India’s most divisive and sensitive disputes, and after a sixty year trial, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court is scheduled to give its verdict on September 24.

That could change today. The same court will consider a petition that asks for the verdict to be deferred on the grounds that it will result in a breakdown of law and order. If the court grants it, the verdict could be delayed by six months and bench will be reconstituted as one current judge will retire in October. (Read: Rethink on Babri judgement?)

The government has been gearing up to prevent the possible law and order problem. Nearly 1.5 lakh policemen will patrol the streets. 4000 paramilitary men will support them. Districts that have been identified as hyper-sensitive will get special protection. The three judges who will deliver the verdict and the High Court will be covered by a thousand policemen.

Yesterday, the government appealed for “the people of India to ensure that the delivery of the judgment is seen as part of the judicial process.”
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said, “All must maintain equanimity and tranquility in aftermath of the judgment. No section must provoke another section.” (Watch: Govt appeals for calm)

On December 6, 1992, thousands of kar sevaks, led by BJP and RSS leaders, demolished the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, in what they described as their fight to reclaim the birthplace of Lord Ram. Communal riots followed.

The Prime Minister is said to be monitoring the security preparations ahead of this month’s verdict.

Aditi Jagtap Panic drive hits 7 vehicles with 6 injuried. Aditi Jagtap a 22-year-old female architecture student stepped on the gas of her Mercedes car on the Salunke Vihar road on sep 14, 2010 evening, hitting four motorcycles, a rickshaw, a car and a PMPML bus. Aditi Jagtap is the daughter of noted cardiologist Ranjeet Jagtap. Aditi Jagtap was arrested under sections 279 (reckless driving) and 338 (causing grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code and 119 and 177 (failing to stop after accident) of the Motor Vehicle Act.

All this disaster happened on Kondwa Road in Pune, tuesday night. Six injuroed were taken to hospital nearby and are getting treated for the serious injuries. Aditi were trying to run off, but police arrested her, after she hitted 15 vehiches while rampaging. She is in Police custody now, and her medical is in progress.

Biography:Aditi Jagtap who is daughter of Pune’s famous heart surgeon Randeep Jagtab hits 10 vehicles while driving a Mercedes at a high speed on Tuesday at Pune’s Kondwa Road. About 10 people were injured, including pedestrians and two-wheeler drivers after getting hit.

Kolkata, Sep.11 (ANI): Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has expressed concern over rising food prices and advised the central bank to take every possible measure required to bring them down while keeping options open on the fiscal front.

His concern has come ahead of monetary review by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the coming week.

Reacting on the issue of rise in food prices at the AGM of the Kolkata Chamber of Commerce held on Saturday, Mukherjee said: “I am worried.”

“I have suggested to the RBI to take whatever monetary measures needed to keep prices down,” he said.

Mukherjee also talked about fiscal steps required to pull down prices and asked the state governments to strengthen the public distribution system to provide food to the poor.

“The states cannot always pass on the blame to the Centre. It is also their duty,” the Union Minister stated.

He also said: “For helping the disadvantaged section of the society, if we can strengthen the Public Distribution System then we can provide relief to about eight crores (80 million) families, more than 40 crores (400 million) people by providing them subsidised food grains.”

Earlier, Mukherjee had promised to revamp the PDS to deliver subsidized food items and fuel.

Food inflation increased to 11.47 per cent towards the end of August from 10.38 per cent in previous week as rains disrupted supply of essential items. Cereals, fruits and milk turned dearer.

This has fuelled expectations of a rate hike by the RBI in its mid-quarter policy review on September 16, the first such assessment the central bank will be making. (ANI)

Guwahati (Assam), Sep. 11 (ANI): Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Saturday assured the people of Assam that they would not be affected by a proposed dam project in Arunachal Pradesh.

He said this after facing a protest by activists of All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the Krishak Sangram Samiti (KSS) at Guwahati on Friday.

Addressing an interactive session of Public Consultation on Big River Dams, Ramesh said that the 2,000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro Power Project was sanctioned after his ministry had reckoned all environmental aspects arising out of its construction.

“I want to state clearly that the Prime Minister, Power Minister want the dam to be built after taking into account

environmental consideration. We wouldn”t let people of Assam especially of north Lakhimpur, Majoli and Dhemaji to suffer,”

said Jairam Ramesh.

Some non-governmental organization and experts have expressed concern and fear that people living in the downstream regions

in both the States may be affected by the proposed project.

“The river is going to be degraded and livelihood of some will be wiped out from the vicinity and ultimately the

bio-diversity resources, for which people have strong views, this bio-diversity will be lost due to degradation of habitat in

the downstream ecology,” said P Barooah, an environmentalist.

The proposed series of projects on the upper and middle River Subansiri basin will together generate 12,000 Mega Watt of electricity. (ANI)

Pakur (Jharkhand), Sep.11 (ANI): In a tragic incident three Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel, including a pilot and a co-pilot, were killed here on Saturday when a Chetak helicopter carrying them crashed due to inclement weather in Jharkhand.

The helicopter was headed towards Baghdogra Air Base from Air Force station Kalaikunda in West Bengal, as it encountered bad weather and crashed near Sinharsi air base along the border of Pakur and Godda districts of Jharkhand, Eastern Command spokesperson and a senior state police official stated today.

According to Deputy Inspector General of police in Pakur, D K Pandey,

the deceased included two pilots and a co-pilot of Chetak and he also informed that the crash occurred at around 4.00 p.m..

The IAF, meanwhile, has ordered an inquiry into the incident to ascertain the causes behind the accident, the spokesperson said. (ANI)

New Delhi, Sep 10 (ANI): President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari have greeted the people of our country on the joyous occasion on Id-ul-Fitr, which is being celebrated tomorrow.

In her message, President Patil said: “I have great pleasure in extending my greetings and good wishes to all my fellow citizens on the auspicious occasion of Id-ul-Fitr. The festival brings joy and happiness on the culmination of the month of Holy Ramzan, a period of fasting, prayer and charity.”

“May this festival strengthen our faith in oneness, compassion and tolerance and instill in us a sense of brotherhood and goodwill towards all. Let us rededicate ourselves on this day to the service of humanity,” she added.

Greeting the people on the occasion, Vice President Ansari said: “I extend my greetings and good wishes to the people of our country on the joyous occasion of Id-ul-Fitr. Id-ul-Fitr which marks the end of the holy month of ”Ramzan” is celebrated with fervour and traditional gaiety inspiring compassion and brotherhood.”

Ahmedabad, Sep 9 (ANI): The hearing of the bail application of former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been arrested in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, was on Thursday extended till September 16 as special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge P P Bhatt was unwell and not available for hearing arguments.

The next date for hearing was mutually agreed upon by Shah”s lawyer Mitesh Amin and the government counsel.

Earlier on Tuesday, the CBI court had adjourned the hearing on the bail application of Shah till September 9.

On September 3, Shah had asked the Supreme Court to recall its verdict for a Central CBI probe on grounds of ”prejudice”, and levelled allegations of corruption against its judge and the Central Government.

In the 87-page application moved by Shah, he alleged that Justice Tarun Chatterjee, who was part of the Bench that had handed over the investigation to the CBI on July 12, was himself under the scanner of the investigating agency for his involvement in the Uttar Pradesh provident fund scam.

Shah”s application in the apex court also questioned the propriety of Justice Aftab Alam considering the fact that he was aware that Justice Chatterjee”s name figured in the provident fund scam.

The application prepared under the guidance of noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani has also put forward the points, which are almost similar to those raised by senior Gujarat Police officer Geeta Johri.

Johri had accused the CBI of pressurising her to implicate some political leaders, including Shah, in connection with the case.

In a curative petition filed with the apex court, she sought the removal of Balwinder Singh, CBI”s Special Director, who is supervising the investigation into the case.
She alleged she had been asked by the CBI to depose in a particular manner in the case and that her personal assistant was threatened by the CBI.

The CBI has charged Shah with murder, abduction, extortion and conspiracy. On July 23, it produced a 30,000-page charge-sheet implicating Shah in the case.

Shah was interrogated over three days in jail in mid August, but the CBI said he did not cooperate and has denied any involvement in the case.

The Supreme Court on January 12 has handed over the investigation of the case to the CBI asking it to place before it the report on the progress of the probe within six months by July 31.

Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi were killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2005. (ANI)

New Delhi, Sep 9 (ANI): The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved the disinvestment of ten per cent of total paid up equity of Manganese ORE (India) Ltd. (MOIL) out of its holding through Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh government have also decided to divest five per cent each of total paid up equity in MOIL out of their shareholding along with the Government of India.

This will lead to MOIL listing its shares in the Stock Exchanges.

The Cabinet has also approved to allow five per cent price discount to the employees of the company under employees reservation quota to encourage their becoming stakeholders in the company.

It has further decided to allow this five per cent discount to retail investors as well as to encourage the development of people-ownership.

At present, the Central Government holds 81.57 per cent of the equity of Manganese Ore India Ltd. a Miniratna Central Public Sector Enterprise.

The balance is held by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh Governments to the extent of 9.62 per cent and 8.81 per cent respectively.

MOIL is engaged in production of manganese ore, which is the raw material for manufacturing of alloys, an essential input for steel making and dioxide ore for manufacturing dry batteries. (ANI)

New Delhi, Sep 9 (ANI): Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its approval to the inclusion of caste in census.

Briefing reporters after meeting, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said that house to house enumeration of castes will be done from June to September next year.

He said that there would be a biometric capture, head count and house to house enumeration of castes.

“Every point of view has been accommodated and a time table has been drawn up after the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee held consultations with all political parties,” he added.

The caste enumeration would be conducted as a separate exercise from June 2011 and completed in a phased manner by September 2011 after the Population Enumeration phase (to be conducted in February-March 2011) of the Census 2011 is over.

A suitable legal regime for collection of data on Castes would be formulated in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner India would conduct the field operations of the caste enumeration.

The Government of India would constitute an expert group to classify the caste/tribe returns after the enumeration is completed.

The office of the registrar general and Census Commissioner India would hand over the details of the castes/tribes returned in the enumeration to the proposed expert group.

Caste-wise enumeration had been given up as a matter of policy after independence. The last Census when caste-wise data was collected, tabulated and published in detail was the 1931 Census.

In response to the demands for enumerating castes other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Census 2011 raised inside Parliament as well as by various groups outside, the Ministry of Home Affairs submitted a note to the Union Cabinet in May 2010 pertaining to this issue.

The Ministry of Home Affairs submitted a fresh note on this subject. The Cabinet discussed the matter in its meeting held in May 2010 and decided that, “the matter may, in the first instance, be considered by a Group of Ministers (GoM)”. (ANI)

New Delhi, Sep 9 (ANI): An Indigo Flight GE-333 from Goa to New Delhi reportedly had a narrow escape on Wednesday when attempting to land at Delhi””s Palam Airport.

Passengers on the flight said that the aircraft was about to land at Delhi””s Palam Airport on Wednesday evening, when it suddenly took off into the air again.

When passengers made inquires with the aircraft”s crew, the pilot said the deviation in flight plan took place because another plane was on the run way.

Passengers said that the plane circled above the airport for at least 25 minutes after the scheduled landing time before landing finally at the airport.

Though the incident went unreported the media, attempts were made to contact the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Air Traffic Control at Palam Airport, ground staff and public relation staff of Indigo Airlines on phone, but without much success.

Indigo public relation staff, when contacted on phone Thursday afternoon said:” We have no clue. Please provide us the details and we will forward it.” (ANI)